The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists – Robert Tressell (1914)

Written right at the start of the 20th century as a damning critique of capitalism, Robert Tressell's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists paints a vivid picture of life for the poorest in society. The wry title casts the central characters of the story - house decorators engaged on starvation wages - as “philanthropists” benevolently passing on almost all of the wealth they create to their idle masters.

Although much progress has been made with labour rights and social security over the intervening 100 years since the book’s publication, it makes uncomfortable reading: you can see many of the conditions of life transposed into 21st century Britain. And it has a lot to say about charity, (actual) philanthropy, and how we treat those who profit least from the prosperity of our nation.

Reviewing the book in the Manchester Evening News in 1946, George Orwell praised its ability to bring to life “the tiny things almost unimaginable to any comfortably situated person which make life a misery when one's income drops below a certain level”.

Luckily, lots of people are able to imagine these tiny things.

Anti-poverty charities that do relief work aren't just being nice; they're actually honouring people's humanity in a system designed to strip it away.

And the ones pushing for change are saying: this system is broken and we're not accepting it.

Both are acts of resistance in their own way.